"French Free" has nothing at all to do with the emergence of hangdogging and Sport Climbing in France, but arose long before the sport-climbing era (back in the 50s/early 60s, or perhaps earlier), when in many parts of Europe (especially France, and especially the Alps) free-climbing simply meant climbing without the use of aiders, and therefore included grabbing the gear for upward progress.

"yo-yoing", which is a very distinct style from "hangdogging" was widely accepted in the United States during the time of which you speak.

Whether this technique is considered ethical or not

Here we go again...people spouting off OPINIONS, rather than fact.

Roughster is wrong, Tradlad is right.

The reference is an article that Yvon Couinard wrote for the American Alpine Journal back in the 60's or 70's. It's reprinted in a Yosemite book I have at home (I'm not exactly sure of the book, but I think it's "The Vertical World of Yosemite" by Galen Rowell--old black and white book, any help?). The subject of the article is the advance in technical rock climbing skills by Californians where he makes the case that they are the best climbers in the world, noting that what europeans consider "free-climbing" is in fact aid climbing.

Of the many other interesting things Chouinard had to say, then in his youth, about Yosemite, this one in particular gives me chuckles. Speaking to the overall Yosemite climbing experience:

" The climbing as a whole is not very esthetic or enjoyable..."

I don't have the time to try and track down a bunch of references and I doubt that many exist. I do know what I've read in a number of different places. I would'nt expect a slang, potentially derogatory sounding term to appear in much of the climbing lit (at least American) of the time, which was focused on the 'great heights' that Americans were attaining.

Roughster: the original question was "where does the term French Free come from?", not "how did the the term become widely popular" (and I have my doubts if your explanation for that is correct-it isn't as though you've given us and "references", but whatever). So I called that gross historical mis-information. Maybe I was being too harsh. I'm not the resident expert, but there are quite a few others who've apparently read some of the same sources I have.

I did not say that "French Free" is only used to describe trad pitches. I said that in my experience, it has nearly always been used in the context of trad. No mis-information there whatsoever: I'm not lying about what I've experienced. I would be interested to hear the contexts of how others have used or heard this term used, especially people who were climbing back in the 60s.

To your first comment, I would say that Roughster doesn't have the general idea correct at all, because the question was "where does the term come from". Now, if indeed the rise of sport climbing, starting in France was what popularized this term (which myself I tend to doubt, but I'm not sure), then that is certainly something interesting to add, but to say that same context is the origin of the term is completely inaccurate.

Chad

|> French-freeing a route is when you pull on every thing you can get your hands
|> on (especially your pro) to get up a section. It's a step below tradition
|> aid climbing, because you aren't standing in adiers. However, you've given
|> up on climbing the rock and are now climbing on your gear. I guess it's called
|> French-freeing by Americans because we already consider them to be a bunch of
|> unethical climbers who chip holds, bolt every 4-5 feet, and bathe seasonally.
|> :-) (Note: If any French climbers out there take offence, go ahead, I don't
|> really care).

Now I realize that this expression has a historical relevance. Free climbing, as we know it now, was mostly inspired by american climbers, and in particular climbers from the Valley (although there was incredibly high level free climbing in parts of Europe such as Eastern Germany, and maybe UK). Before the 70's, using the (in-site) pitons to climb was a widely accepted practice not only in the Alps, but also at the crags. So yes, "french free" was the standard way to climb in the past. Things have of course changed, and at the crag, it is no longer the case, especially since bolting has eliminated the risk of falling. However, I still think that french free is a good technique in the mountains, and whenever I meet a piton on a long route up high, not only I will pull on it, but unless I have stood on it as well, I would not considered that I have made a good enough use of it.